Split Personality
by The Goddess of Elements
Summary: Joy Copperton's Hawaiian experience in 2000 has had her wondering. Did it really happen? When she returns in October 2003 for a series of competitions, she's sure it did. But then the attack happens. And Joy is personally affected. So she seeks the comfort of Timmy Hamilton. Can they help each other through this tragedy?
1. Prologue

I've always been an abnormal girl. In 5th grade, I went on my first trip to Hawaii, to the island of Kauai, to be exact. I was super excited. How could I not be? A whole week of sunshine, sand, and clear blue ocean. It was an exciting prospect. But, over the course of the flight, something strange happened.

My hair color slowly turned. It went from brown to blonde over the course of 6 hours, so slowly that we didn't notice until we arrived at the hotel and I prepared to take a shower. That's when I looked in the mirror and noticed that I had blonde hair instead of brown. My eyes had also gone from hazel to bright blue.

And it stayed that way throughout the whole trip. Other strange things happened on that trip, as well. I discovered I had an incredible surfing ability. As soon as I discovered this, me, being me, decided to test it and enter a competition. Little did I know that Bethany Hamilton was in that same competition. And, surprise surprise, I ended up in fourth place! That was good, for me.

That's when I met Bethany. She was a cool person. She was sweet, kind, and pretty awesome. We exchanged phone numbers and thought that was that. But then, we started texting. And then she invited me over to her house. I had her over to our hotel room one day. We went surfing at the beach together.

The week went by so fast, and my blonde-haired, blue-eyed appearance remained. It was finally time for me to return home for the rest of the school year. I said goodbye to Bethany and goodbye to Hawaii. I boarded the plane and headed for home.

And then, we arrived home and I had my brown-haired, hazel-eyed appearance back. It was so surreal that I thought I surely had dreamed the entire trip. But my parents were witnesses, and I had my fourth-place trophy from my competition as a reminder. It still remains a mystery to me, to this day.

That's where this story begins. It all started, three years later, when we headed to Kauai _again_. Here's how it happened.


	2. Well, I'm Back

**Bold=text messages**

Plain=everything else

**Just so you don't get confused and think that I have bad grammar. :)**

* * *

I hauled my suitcase out of my parents' car and set it down on the concrete outside of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. I leaned against the handle and sighed. I turned the volume of the music I had blasting on my phone (Guns n Roses' _Sweet Child O' Mine_), noticing my mom open her mouth.

"Now, Joy," she said sternly. _Uh-oh_, I thought. _Lecture time_. "Remember to text me when you get there." I nodded, gesturing to my 98% battery I still had on my phone. "Call me every day." I sighed and rolled my eyes at that, but didn't say anything. "And don't have any fun." I burst out laughing. My mother never meant it when she said that. "Surf your hardest, 'kay?"

Before we get too far into the story, I should probably let you know that I'm Joy Copperton. I live in Washington, D.C. I'm 13 years old. I have brown hair and hazel eyes.

But here's the thing: I also have a split personality. I discovered it in Spring Break of the year 2000, when I came with my family on vacation. During the flight, my hair color started to change. I went from a brunette to a blonde in the course of 6 hours. I went from having hazel eyes to bright blue in that same time.

The very next day, I discovered I had an incredible surfing ability, and I tested it by entering myself in a competition. I ended up in fourth place, which was good. I also met Bethany Hamilton.

She's, like, a pro surfer. We only exchanged phone numbers and left, thinking that was that. But nope, we started to text. She invited me over to her house one day. She had dinner with my family the next. The Sunday before we left, she asked me to go to her church service, which I did. I met Pastor Sarah Hill. She's great.

Before I knew it, it was time to leave. Bethany and I said tearful goodbyes, and I headed for home. When I got back, I was back to my normal self, as if the whole trip had never happened. I was a brunette with hazel eyes once again.

I dragged my suitcase into the airport and went through the usual airport things. I checked my bags, went through customs and security, and headed to my gate.

I decided to get Bethany, whom I was staying with, a Canadian souvenir. I got her some Rocky Mountain Chocolate and a keychain displaying Canada's favorite sport, hockey. Since Hawaii's was surfing, and she'd given me a good taste of that, I wanted to give her a taste of hockey. Maybe I'd even teach her how to play if they had an ice rink. Which was unlikely, but still.

I had twenty minutes to wait at the gate before I could board the flight. I was glad, though, that there was a public lounge. It, at least, had things to do. I headed up there with my carry-on, my large blue school backpack full of things for the flight: books, my laptop, headphones, DVDs. You get the picture.

I got a text from Bethany about fifteen minutes into the wait. **Where r u?** she asked.

**In airport. Plane leaves in 5 mins. Cant wait 2 see u!** I replied, putting an excited emoticon at the end of the message.

**Haha. Cant wait 2 see u either. When will u get here? **Bethany's reply asked.

**Ummm... IDK. Lemme check**. I quickly did some mental math and said, **10:55 tonite. **

**Awesome! **Was Bethany's exclamation in her text. **We will b there the airport waiting 4 u. **

**No duh**, I replied, giggling as I sent the message. **How else would I get to ur house? **

**Ha ha. Very funny. **Bethany's message was unamused but teasing.

"All those on flight 436 to Kauai, the flight is now boarding." As the announcement rang out over the loudspeakers, I jumped up and grabbed my backpack. I put it on my shoulders and raced to the jet bridge. For good luck, I touched the outside of the plane.

**OMG! **I said in a text to Bethany. **The plane is boarding now. 6 more hours!**

**So excited 2 c u! **Bethany's reply said. **Cant wait for u 2 meet my bros. **

I hadn't gotten the opportunity to meet Bethany's brothers on my last trip. They'd been at the competition, but we'd gone back to the hotel before I could meet them. When I'd gone over to Bethany's house, we'd gone surfing the whole time, but the boys hadn't come. And then, I had never gotten the chance to see them at the church service. And I definitely hadn't invited them to our hotel room. Why would I?

I found my seat easily enough. It was in the middle, and it was a window seat. That kind I liked. I could never afford first class, and it sucked to be at the back near the stinky bathrooms. It was a perfect location.

After six hours of boredom, I sent Bethany a text telling her that I was landing. I got off the plane and headed to the baggage claim. At first, I didn't see the Hamiltons anywhere.

I got my bags and looked for the family. That's when I spotted them. They waved when they saw me, and I rushed to greet them.

"Oh my God, you look awesome!" Bethany cried as we pulled apart from a hug.

"You don't look too shabby yourself," I teased. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton."

"Please, call us Cheri and Tom," said Bethany's mom. "It's easier. And this is Tim, and that's Noah. There's also Alana Blanchard, Bethany's friend, and Alana's brother Byron."

"Wow, so I get the whole package," I joked. "The real deal."

"With these guys, it's always the whole package," Tom agreed. "No strings attached." I laughed.

"Right, let's get home and get to bed!" Cheri exclaimed. "I'll bet you're tired after that long flight." I nodded and yawned, as if to prove her point.

Bethany, Alana, and I chatted the whole way to the car. "So, how did this meeting come about?" Alana asked.

"Well, I was here on vacation three years ago, in 2000," I explained, "And I was in one of Bethany's competitions. And then we exchanged phone numbers and started hanging out. And here I am now!"

The drive to the Hamiltons' house was about forty-five minutes from the airport. It was a quaint little wooden house on the beach. It had a brown exterior and a colorful interior. We dropped Alana and Byron off at their house first.

I was staying on a mattress in Bethany's room. "And here's my room!" Bethany exclaimed as we entered. "It's not much, but I like it."

"I think it's cool," I said. The walls were teal, covered with Hawaiian decor. "I like it." I set my suitcase down and observed the room. There was a ukulele on top of the dresser. "You play?"

"A little," Bethany said. "Alana and I played a song for our fifth-grade talent show later in the year after you left."

I nodded. "That's cool," I said. "Will you teach me?"

Bethany was caught completely off-guard by my question. "Um, sure," she said uncertainly. "If you want." I laughed and gave her another hug. But then I yawned.

"All right, sleepy time!" I exclaimed. I went into the bathroom to change into my pajamas and brush my teeth. I sat down on my mattress and crawled under the covers.

I lay on my side. I pretended to be asleep. Bethany climbed into her bed, which was in the center of the room, pressed against the back wall. "Joy?" Bethany whispered. "I'm glad you're back."

And then, I whispered, so softly that she couldn't hear me, "I'm glad to be back."

And I was sure that I meant that statement.


	3. Service and a Harrassment of the Judges

The next morning, I was woken rather early by Bethany, who threw a pillow at me. I groaned and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. She was hovering above me with an evil look on her face. I rolled over onto my stomach and tried to go back to sleep.

Evil Bethany threw another pillow at me.

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, sitting up in bed. "I'm trying to sleep, in case you hadn't noticed!"

Bethany just grinned. "I know." Her tone was smug. "The competition is today, remember? The invitational!" Her voice was full of excitement. "You do want to win, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" I cried. "How could you think I don't?"

"Did I say that?" Bethany asked. Her tone became even more smug. "Let's go! We'll catch some waves before service."

I nodded. "Okay." I jumped up and changed into my bikini. I put my sarong overtop of it, and we all headed out to the car. Bethany and I put our boards on the ski rack.

The car pulled up to the beach service, and Bethany and I headed down to the ocean. We lunged into the water, heading out into the fray.

"The waves out there suck!" I declared, paddling towards a forming wave. We raced to get it. Bethany, being the pro surfer she was, caught it first. She teasingly sprayed me as I watched her ride the wave.

"You were saying?" Bethany asked.

"There are some great waves out here!" I exclaimed. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

I caught the next wave. It was around an eight-footer. Bethany laughed as I flipped backwards off my board. I remained underwater for longer than I needed to. I was playing a prank on Bethany.

I heard her shout my name worriedly. I remained underwater. She paddled over to where I was, and searched for me. I wasn't anywhere to be seen by her eyes.

"Joy!" she cried. "Joy?"

She felt around under the water for my head. I reached above the surface and gave her a thumbs-up. I swam to the surface and broke through, gasping for breath.

"You!" Bethany exclaimed. "I thought you'd drowned!"

"Hey, it's me." I shrugged.

Soon we were catching waves left and right. Bethany and I caught some rather amazing ones, if I do say so myself. It seemed like minutes only before we heard Noah's call.

"Bethany! Joy! Let's go, you're lagging!" he shouted.

Bethany and I looked at each other in horror and swam for the shore. "Sorry!" Bethany called. "Sorry, Noah, we lost track of time!"

We found our sandals on shore and slipped them on. We took our boards up to the rock where we kept our stuff and slid on our sarongs. We raced for the service. They were singing a song called Blessed Be Your Name. Pastor Sarah Hill was one of the singers.

"Move over, Timmy!" Bethany hissed at her older brother.

"Sorry, these seats are taken," Timmy lied.

"Come on!" Bethany shoved her brother into the seat beside ours.

Cheri handed us towels as we got comfortable. "How were the waves?" Tom asked.

"Really fun," we both said.

"Ready for the contest? Practice your snap off the lip?" We both nodded in response to his question.

"No, but she's perfect on the wipeouts," Noah teased us.

"And fake-drownings," Bethany added, glaring at me. I chuckled.

"Shh, guys, we're in church!" Cheri hissed. "She's gonna do her mermaid thing and crush it like she always does." I assumed she was talking about Bethany there. "And I'm interested to see how Joy surfs. I hear she's good."

"Got fourth in the competition we met at" Bethany interjected. I nodded at her.

I knew the conversation was over then. Everyone was singing the song now, and I sang along with them. But all I could think about was the waves.

* * *

When we got home, Bethany and I headed to her room. She showed me her ukulele-playing skills. She was good! And I mean, _really_ good. As she played, she looked out the window. I looked to see what she was seeing. Two surfers were in the water. It was Tom and Cheri.

They were going to have a surfing contest with us (me, Bethany, Noah, and Timmy) as the judges. Bethany set her ukulele down and grabbed notepads and pens for us.

"Almost got it," I heard Noah's voice say. "Darn it."

We headed into the kitchen. Timmy was eating a Spam sandwich, and Noah was attempting to fix a camera. "Interesting technique, Noah," Timmy commented. "Is that how the professionals do it?" Bethany whacked him on the back of the head. He glanced at the notebooks and pens in our hand. "Where are you going?"

"To watch the competition," said Bethany, in a slightly _uh-duh_ voice.

Timmy and Noah glanced at each other and smirked. They raced to grab notebooks and pens of their own. We paraded down to the beach.

Cheri and Tom took turns catching waves. On one of them, Tom dropped in on Cheri's wave. He gave us a three-fingered wave. Cheri wiped out.

On Cheri's next wave, she did okay. I gave her a 7. Bethany's rating was 5, Timmy's was 6.5, and Noah's was 5, as well.

I heard indistinct comments exchanged between Cheri and Tom. Tom's wave was awesome! But I gave his rating a 6.

"Somebody's on my side!" Cheri exclaimed gleefully.

They talked to each other for a moment, and started paddling towards the shore. They abandoned their boards and started throwing sand at us. Cheri was throwing sand at the others, but was avoiding me. Tom, however, threw handfuls at me.

I defended myself with the notepad. I glanced at Timmy. His Spam sandwich was ruined.

I smiled. I had a feeling I was in for a wild ride with the Hamiltons.


End file.
